Excavator



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(N5 Model.)

J. S. WHITOOMB.

EXGAVATOR.

Patented Feb. 21, 18-88.

mvemboz,

33 1 5 QUOTA W11 u Puma Wahinginn. n. c.

(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 2.

J. S. WHITOOMB.

EXGAVATOR.

No 378,125. Patented Feb. 214 1888.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR a i/ 4 By ATTORNEY 3 SheetsSheet 3.

(No Modem J. S. WHITGOMB.

EXGAVATOR.

No. 378,125. Patented Feb. 21, 1888.

l/VVE/i/TUR WITNESSES ATTORNEY llriinio Sterne Parent tines.

JOSEPH S. XVHlTOOMB, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTr-i.

EXCAVATO R.

EPEQIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,125, dated February 21, 1888.

Application died May 8, 188?. Serial No. 236,921. (No model.)

To (zZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osnrn S. Wnrrconn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Min nea-polis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Excavators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for excavating deep trenches and removing the earth therefrom; and the object of the invention is the production of an apparatus adapted specially to excavating trenches for laying sewer-pipes, water-mains, &o., by means of a cutter or shovel arranged to be hoisted by power and to descend by gravity for cutting off slices of earth and causing them to fall into a bucket which is operated by a rope running over a pulley and drum to liftit out of the trench, so that its contents can be dumped at the sides of the machine or emptied into a car to be carried to the rear and dumped into the trench, and also devices capable of being advanced as the work progresses for holding the sheathing at the head of the trench in place. These objects I accomplish by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whicl1- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the front portion of the machine, showing also a portion of the trench with its sheathing and the devices for holding the sheathing in upright position. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the guides and sliding bar on the line a: a; of

Fig. 1 and of the upper socketed portion of the cutter-body and the cnttershaft on the lines .t 9;, Figs. 1 and 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the cutter and a portion of its shaft. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the cutterbody on the line z of Fig. 3. Fig. t is a top View of the sheathing at one side of the trench and its supportingframe. Fig. 5 is a rear view of one of the planks of such frame, showing the rollers by which the frame is rendered on.- pable of being advanced. Fig. 6 is also a side elevation of the machine, showing a cutter having a flat instead of a rounded face and a different arrangement of the guides for the E cutter. Fig. 7 is a rear view of the cutter and its supporting-bar and guides shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a side view of the cutter and Fig. 9 is a longitudinal sccits bar or shaft.

tion of the same. Fig. 10 is a transverse section of the cutter on the line yyof Fig. 7, and Fig. 11 is a crosssection of the cutter detached from its support.

Similar parts are designated by like refercnce-lctters throughout the several views.

A designates a frame-work of any desirable construction mounted on wheels 10, which run on tracks 20' on stringers B, the stringers being connected bycross-ties. The tracks are made in portable sections, so that they can be taken from the rear of a machine and laid in advance as the machine progresses in its work. At suitable elevations in the frame are tracks to on stringers B B for dumpcars a.

At the middle of the front portion of the framework are guide-posts D, provided with guide-rails d, forming ways for the ribs 6 0n the sliding bar f, which reciprocates the cutter. These guide-rails and ribs extend the full length of the posts and bar, respectively, so that the bar can be raised and lowered the desired distance for the work to be done. On the outside of the lower portion of the barf is bolted or otherwise secured a piece, 9, which carries the cutter. To the piece g is attached a rope, h, which runs over a pulley, i, at the top of the frame, and thence to the drum j of an ordinary hoisting-engine placed on the platform A at the front of the frame. The engine is not shown, but may be of any wellknown construction adapted to the purpose.

The bar operating the cutter is raised by means of the rope and drum and allowed to drop,-when desired, in the usual manner in which such engines are operated. The cutter k is fastened to the lower portion of the piece 5/ at its outer side, so as to be free to be raised or lowered'outside of the guide-posts. The cutter may have a rounded face, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, or a fiat face, as in Figs. 6 to 11. The back of the body of the cutter is made convex and tapering toward the lower or cutting edge, as shown at m. The cutter may be made of a single piece of metal or of a body to which a steel blade is fastened. The cutter preferably has a socket, Z, in the upper portion of its body to receive the supportingpiece y.

n is a bucket operated by means of a rope, 0, running over a pulley, p, to a drum oper- 2 erases ated by the hoisting-engine for elevating to the car 0 the earth cut loose and thrown into the trench by the cutter. The car 0, it will be understood, may be used upon either track upon the stringers B B In Fig. 1,,(1 represents the usual upright sheathing at the sides of the trench to prevent the earth from caving in. To hold the sheathing in place at the forward portion of themachinc, there isprovided amovable frame composed of heavy planks r, convenient dis tanees apart and connected by rods 3, attached to eyes if in the edges of the planks, and crossbars it connect the opposite planks. At the back of each of the planks are roller-wheels o, projecting suitably from the surface of the planks, whereby the planks of the frame can easily be made to slide along the surface of the sheathing. The rods 3 being flexible and the crosspieces a being loosely socketed, the planks can be advanced one at a time and render the work of advancing thefrarne com paratively easy. The frame should be sufficiently long to avoid the necessity of using cross-pieces at its forward portion, thus leaving ample room for the bucket and cutter to operate, whilestill serving to hold the advance sheathing-planks in. place.

In operating the apparatus a trench of desired dimensions having been started by the ordinary means, the machine is placed in position, with its bucket to at the bottom of the trench and its cutter elevated and sufficiently in advance of the end of the trench to cut a proper slice of earth, and the cutter is then released and allowed to descend and cut off a slice of earth at the head of the trench. Additional weights may .be attached to the bar of the cutter when the character of the work requires greater Weight and force. The convex inner surface of the cutter facilitates the penetration and serves to throw the 100s ened earth away from the cutter and deposit .it in the bucket, and the backwardly-turned edges of the cutter tend to keep the trench smooth along the sides. The slice having been cut and deposited in the bucket,the cutter and bucket are then elevated and the machine is rolled forward by any well-known means a proper distance for the next cut, and, the bucket having been emptied and lowered into the trench, the operation is repeated.

In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown a slightly-modt fled construction of parts of the machine. The guides are provided on the faceof the uprights,

and the bar carrying the cutter therefor moves 3 outside of the guides. The bar is shorter and is operated by means of nippers N in the manner well understood in the operationof piledrivers. The construction first described is, however, deemed the more desirable.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. A cutter for an excavating apparatus, consisting of a cutting-blade and a body having its inner surface convex and tapering to said blade, in combination with an operatingbar and guides therefor, substantially as set forth.

2. A cutter for an excavator, consisting of a blade and a body having its sides bent rearwardly and. its inner surface convex and tapering to said bent sides and blade, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination, in an excavator, a vertically-operating cutter having a convex inner surface, and anelevating-bucket arranged to receive the earth as it is cut of by said cutter, substantially as set :forth.

4. In combination, in an excavator, a rolling frame provided with upright guides, a sliding piece in said guides, a cutter attached to said sliding piece so as to travel outside of said guides, the said cutter having inwardlyturned edges and a body convex on the inside and tapering toward its sides and toward the cuttingedge, substantially as set forth.

5. In an excavating apparatus, a rolling frame, horizontal tracks therein, clumpingcars for said tracks, upright guides in said frame, a sliding bar in said guides, a cutter connected thereto having a tapering convex inner surface, and an elevator-bucket for receiving the earth as it is cut off by said cutter, substantially as set forth.

6. In combination with a cutter for cutting earth from the head of a trench and a bucket for removing the loosened earth, of a rolling frame constructed, substantially as described, for supporting the sheathing of the trench.

7. The combination, with the sheathing of a trench, of a movable supporting-frame composed of horizontal planks having rollers engaging the sheathing, loosely-socketed crosspieces connecting opposite planks, and rods coupling adjoining planks so as to permit independent movement thereof.

JOSEPH S. W'HITCOMB.

\Vitnesses:

Jno. A. MoGoLL, R. K. THITELEY. 

